K-On Unlimited
by Momiji Colors
Summary: Six years have passed since the girls founded Houkago Tea Time. They have been attending college in Tokyo and performing gigs weekly as a band at clubs, and this has only allowed their the bonds of their friendships to grow stronger. But will harbored feelings, ignorant misunderstandings, and the fear of of impending adulthood and the "real world" be enough to tear them apart?


_Story Summary_: Six years have passed since the girls founded Houkago Tea Time in their high school's light music club. They have been attending college in Tokyo (the main 4 now in their third year) and performing gigs weekly as a band at clubs, and this has only allowed their the bonds of their friendships to grow stronger. But will harbored feelings, ignorant misunderstandings, and the fear of impending adulthood and the "real world" be enough to tear them apart?

Rating: K+ (for now)  
Genera: Hurt/Comfort, Romance  
Pairing(s): Mio/Mugi (focus), Ritsu/OC (background)

_Disclaimer: _I do not own K-On or its characters in anyway. I do however own this story so like it, follow it, share it, but please don't take it and claim it to be yours.

Please refer to the bottom of the chapter for authors notes.

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**Ch.1: Club Chouchou  
**

_Chapter Summary:_ When Tsumugi shows up to band practice over two hours late looking exhausted and frazzled, Mio can't help but wonder what went wrong during Tsumugi's visit to the Kotobuki main house.

Chapter Rating: K+

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Mio bustled into the empty lobby of Houkago Tea Time's regular Wednesday night venue bringing a blast of cold air with her. The place looked grungy from the outside with its peeling paint, neon pink sign blinking 'Club Chouchou', and poster plastered stairwell leading into the underground lobby. But likewise with most businesses in the sketchier part of Roppongi, for what it lacked in curb appeal, it immensely counteracted by dazzling you once inside. And most importantly at the moment, it was _warm_ compared to the cold front outside threatening to bring winter into Tokyo for good this year.

Enlarged posters of album covers from bands who had played the club decorated the walls, each wall claiming its own genera but giving an overall hippie-indie vibe. Chandeliers shaped like butterflies hung from the ceiling in the lobby twinkling their fake crystals which Yui had become instantly enamored with the moment she'd set foot in the club.

Ritsu's drumming, thrumming dully from behind the main doors to the auditorium, reached Mio's ears as soon as she set foot inside and her fingers unconsciously began twitching, running over the muscle memory finger positions for her bass part to the new song until the music abruptly stopped. Ritsu's frustrated whining at the complexity of the new solo followed bringing an humorous smile to Mio's lips as she unbundled herself from her winter clothes.

Mio opened the door that lead into the auditorium, allowing the low tenor of Ritsu's boyfriend's answering voice to carry out, bringing with it the faint sound of Yui strumming her guitar part without the amp. The stage and dance floor of the room were painted almost entirely black, but LED lights lined the walls in swirling butterfly patterns and could be hooked up to a computer to create various color schemes and affects, but for the moment overhead halogen lights filled the room with bright artificial light.

"Good afternoon!" She called.

"Yahoo!" Ritsu said waving a drumstick. Her boyfriend, Torakawa Akito-kun, who had become a staple add-on to their group, waved from his place by Ritsu as he took her water bottle and retreated to his usual folding chair behind the sound equipment table with his latest book.

"Oh, Mio!" Yui said, as if she were surprised to see their bass player. "How was class?"

"As boring as ever. Don't get me wrong, the subject is interesting but that teacher is just getting so old that he lectures with his back to the class most of the time, and you can barely hear him so the class is dead from lack of engagement. Whatever you do, don't take a class with him." She pulled Elizabeth, her bass, out of its case and slipped the strap over her head. "Where are Azusa and Mugi?"

"Ah, Azusa just ran out to the conbini for snacks to go with tea because it was her turn to bring them and she forgot. We haven't heard from Mugi-chan though. The last I knew, she was going to her family's house today for some meeting but she promised to be back for practice."

Mio glanced at her wrist watch. "Well we still have plenty of time until open so it shouldn't be a problem if she got a little hung up. Do you guys want to run over a couple of old songs for a refresher until she gets here? Maybe playing something else will help you work out the trouble with your new solo when you come back to it, Ritsu."

Ritsu nodded eagerly and Yui handed her a plug for the amp.

* * *

_Where was Tsumugi?!_

It was an hour until Club Chouchou opened its doors for the evening and they were expected to go on stage and their bubbly, blond haired keyboardist still hadn't showed. The four present members of HTT had been reviewing FuwaFuwa Time for the past half hour and Mio was getting so sick of it by the 6th rendition that she didn't even feel like playing it in the show tonight. The look on Azusa's face made it clear she was getting tired of the repetitive chorus as well.

But of course Yui wasn't. "Again! Again!"

Ritsu slumped against her drum set with a groan that mimicked how Mio felt. Mio slipped Elizabeth's shoulder strap over her head and set it gently on a stand. "No more Yui. I'm more worried about where Mugi is and why she hasn't at least replied to our calls or texts."

"I'm also starving," Azusa said, glancing forlornly at the box of sweet cakes that sat on the sound table beside Torakawa-kun who was being quite a good sport about the repeat of songs. They had refrained from having their tea since Azusa had returned two hours ago with their treat in order to have it with Tsumugi who always did the honors of pouring. Now the lack of routine was just contributing to their anxiousness.

Suddenly the backstage door flew open and a flushed and flustered looking Kotobuki Tsumugi burst onto the stage.

"I…am so sorry…everyone," she said between gasps and pants for breath. True to her formal Kotobuki etiquette, she bowed low to express her sincerest apologies, but then her hands went to her knees as she braced herself, drawing air into her lungs.

"Are you okay?"

"Where were you? What happened?"

"Mugi-senpai…"

Torakawa rushed over with an extra bottle of water and Ritsu carried over her stool for Tsumugi to sit down as they all gathered around.

"My train back from Chiba…ran into electrical trouble." She took a swig of water. "We were underground and I couldn't get a cellphone signal out. I was running late already. I should have let you know before I left the main house."

Mio eased the heavy weight of the keyboard case off of Tsumugi's back, staggering as she forgot how freakishly strong the girl was and nearly dropping the case to the floor.

"It's fine. We're just glad you made it," Ritsu said cheerfully. "We still have a little bit of time for practice."

Mio looked at the way Tsumugi just sat there with her head in her hands taking little sips of water as she slowed her breathing back to normal. "…if you're up to it, that is. You don't look so good," she said, following up Ritsu's statement. There was a flush on Tsumugi's cheeks from running to the club from the station but beneath that her eyes were rimmed with red with dark circles under them and the pallor of her skin was abnormal, even for her natural paleness.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, really. And I pulled out my keyboard and fingered my parts for most recent songs when the train was stalled so I should be okay to play tonight. But since I missed lunch because of the train ride to Chiba, and my parents only had the servants prepare finger sandwiches, and I missed tea time with you all, I'm rather famished." They'd all gotten used to the Kotobuki's lavish fortune to some degree from seeing their various vacation homes when they went on their annual band training camp/vacation, but as Tsumugi always tried to keep the experiences as normal as possible, it still surprised them when she mentioned things like servants and butlers at the 'main house'.

Yui spoke up in her most chipper tone. "You didn't miss tea time. We were waiting for you. It's not the same without all of us together." She held up a thermos with a bright smile and Tsumugi visibly relaxed.

Mio saw a fond smile form on Tsumugi's lips as she watched the others scamper excitedly over to get the box of sweet cakes and set out the tea cups on the tablecloth placed over a spare card table. For a moment she seemed to melt back into her usual unfrazzled self, but there was a tenseness lingering in her posture and a sadness in her eyes that was not like her at all. Mio wasn't sure what this whole meeting with her family had been about, but she was sure something had happened that had disturbed he friend. She placed a hand on the girl's slim shoulder. "Everything went okay at the main house?"

Tsumugi looked up at her, a wide smile that was meant to be reassuring breaking across her face. "Of course." When, over the past six years, Mio had come to be able to read her friend so well, she wasn't able to say. She could tell the smile was forced but now clearly wasn't the time to ask questions, and maybe Mio wasn't the right one to be asking them. So she just nodded and gave Tsumugi a small sympathetic smile of her own before turning to help break out the silverware.

* * *

Tea time went smoothly. No one asked for details about Tsumugi's engagement at the main house and Tsumugi didn't seem inclined to talk about it. The six of them sat in a circle around the card table sipping their tea and talking about classes mostly. The routine and mundane slowly returned Tsumugi mostly to her usual cheerful, sweet self, if a little more reserved than normal.

Afterwards, the auditorium filled up and the concert flew by without any hiccups. Ritsu nailed her solo on the new song and the crowd had gone wild with praise for the pint-sized drummer, not that she needed any more ego boosting, but Mio was proud of her friend as well. And Tsumugi had been right about being prepared despite her major train delay, playing beautifully and effortlessly like the protégé she was, and seeming to relax entirely back into her normal bubbly self before the end of the night. It was amazing, the magic of music.

The beat was still ringing in Mio's ears as Torakawa-kun started up his van which he conveniently and generously used to transport their equipment from venue to venue each week. Ritsu was chatting amiably from her spot in the passenger seat and Torakawa was chuckling softly at whatever she'd said. Yui and Azusa's forms had slumped against each other in the first row of rear seats as soon as the doors had been shut. The rumble of the van soothed over them as they began pulling out of the parking lot behind the club.

Mio felt the familiar weight of Tsumugi's head on her shoulder and the lightly fruity scent of her shampoo waft over her she nodded off on the ride back to their apartments near campus. Mio was by far not the most touchy-feely person, but years of exposure to Tsumugi's over-cuddliness had all-around dimmed her reactions to jumping anytime someone invaded her personal bubble and had practically erased the reaction when it was Tsumugi herself who was the intruder. Mio felt the warmth of the heaters and the casual conversation between Ritsu and Torakawa-kun upfront lulling her to sleep when Tsumugi stirred beside her, slim pianists fingers sliding around her wrist.

"Mio?" Tsumugi's voice was hardly even a whisper, something Mio wouldn't have been able to hear had the girl's lips not been directly next to her ear.

"M-mm?" Her eyes stayed closed but she gave the girl her attention.

"Thanks." Her whisper suddenly sounded unfathomably sad and made Mio's heart stir and her brow begin to furrow with concern.

"For what?"

Tsumugi shook her head, cheek sliding against the fabric of Mio's jacket. _You don't need to know right now, _was her message. Mio had come to learn these little subtleties from her friend over the six years they'd known each other. The cold tip of Tsumugi's nose pressed into the warm side of her neck, a focal point amongst all the other places where their heavily layered bodies were pressed close together and heat transferred between them in the back of the dark van. The feeling was comforting, innocent, familiar; it was entirely like Tsumugi.

Whatever had happened at the main house, Tsumugi would only share it with whom she wanted, when she wanted. Mio would just have to sit tight.

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A/N1: The name of the club, Club Chouchou, means 'Club Butterfly' in English. I have heard that there is a famous dance club in Roppongi called 'Ageha' which I only know as the Japanese word for swallowtail butterfly and it just brought up a beautiful image in my mind of LED lights shaped like butterflies on the walls of some dance club so I went with that image for this fiction.

A/N2: I'm placing their hometown in Chiba prefecture (adjunct and easily accessible by train, situated to the north-east of Tokyo for those who are unfamiliar with Japanese geography) because I'm pretty sure it doesn't say where exactly in Japan _K-On_ takes place. And for the purposes of this fanfiction they are going attending university in Tokyo.

A/N3: Roppongi is an area of Tokyo that has a lot of clubs and bars. Some parts of it are very affluent but turn the corner and it can suddenly become very sketchy, especially at night.

Thanks for reading! Please review! This will be an ongoing fiction though I am not positive how often I will update so click 'follow' if you want to receive updates. Also, I'm having a hard time coming up with a name for this story so if anyone has any suggestions, please leave them in the comments. Remember, the story is Mio/Mugi centric incase that influences your suggestions.


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